the best time to have a bonfire is never, but failing that it should be a time when nobody is going to be out in their gardens (unless they are doing the same as you) and the weather is not suitable for drying washing or having windows open. I've got a shredder so I have the choice if using that or cutting and bagging and taking it to the dump which inconveniences me and not my neighbours

A user of this site has asked for the text from Welwyn Hatfield District Council's leaflet Bonfires - Be A Good Neighbour to be added to the site. click here The leaflet is available from council offices and will be posted to you free of charge but unfortunately it is not online at the WHC site. The National Society for Clean Air and Environment Protection also has information about domestic bonfires at its site. click here

« Last Edit: April 11, 2002, 10:52:36 am by admin »

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To anyone thinking of a good prune this weekend, please bear in mind that it is nesting time and most birds have laid eggs Notice how quiet they are Numbers are at an all time low so lets be carefull.Also think twice about slug pellets, birds and hedgehogs eat snails and slugs and pellets kill them Dare I say it a little ash around tender plants will deter them without resorting to poison .yours in a green mood jet

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observer

Re Bonfires...It takes a while to get my interest so now you have it! In my opinion there is no excuse for a bonfire under any circumstances....its a cheap and lazy way of dealing with a rubbish problem!....If one has garden debris to dispose of then the obvious answer is to get a contractor in to do the job or if one can't afford that then I suppose one can hire one of those container things.I saw acrid smoke drifting over the top end of Mymms /Moffats and I thought how sad such cheap people have moved into that area....you would have thought they would have a few shillings left over to dispose of rubbish!One of my friends....you know what I mean...this is Brookmans Park is absolutely furious because their VOLVO was covered in bonfire debris....serve them right!!! but seriously some of us have nice cars and were not happy either!!!

Mary_Morgan

Jet. where do you get the ash to put round the plants - presumably from your bonfire. Smileys don't seem to be working for me.

As for Observer - how frightfully pompous - is he suggesting we shouldn't live in BP if we can't afford it. Perhaps I am glad that I don't live there any more because BP was a nice place when I lived there, full of nice people, not all of us could afford a garden contractor, a skip or a volvo. similarly the smileys don't come out.

Best regards folks.

Mary

PS There is (or was) a car wash at Bell Bar and another at the Savacentre. What's a bit of ash when it keep the slugs away.

Dear Mary,Thats why I put a smiley on my ash comment, but I bet you knew that and were teasing It is strange around here now, I make a point of saying hello or smiling when I meet someone and half the time I am completely ignored even by close neighbours Perhaps they think that I am a loony for being polite or perhaps they are so posh that they need an introduction by a third party, more likely they just do not know how to be sociable Perhaps they say " theres that miserable *** from the forum?regards,jet

Dear all,Regarding ash fallout, it is a bit galling when one has polished ones car. If it falls at night the dew in the morning acts as a catalist for the acid in the ash which marks the paintwork Not the biggest deal in the world but a bit painfull if ones car is black.A lot of contractors take garden refuse somewhere private and in fact burn it, I know of a farm nearby that has an almost permanent fire! The problem just moves to someone elses back yard regards,jet

Observer - you obviously live in a completely different world to me. I wouldn't describe myself as cheap but do live in BP (don't drive a Volvo although I used to have one) , and have had occasional bonfires. I don't want to 'hire a contractor' or hire a 'container thing' (they're called skips by the way). :-/

Perhaps one of your gardeners, or maybe your butler when he has a day off could come and assist me with my garden rubbish

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John_fraser

Fine, but I don’t want smoke spoiling one of the few pleasant evening we get. Why not compost some of it or use the Garden waste service. I currently have 7 full green bags at the foot of my garden waiting for the next collection (22nd April).

I also think people need to recognise the use of humour in posts, although use of a ;-) or :-^ would have made it clearer.

Phil_Holm

This is my first posting on the "New Look" site. Hope I've got it right.

I've been watching this debate grow for about a year now, and last week I contacted Welwyn Hatfield District Council and asked them what they could do about turning Brookmans Park into a smoke free area.

The reply was:

Dear Sir

In reply to your query regarding the above, I write to inform you that Welwyn Hatfield Council have been unable to adopt any bonfires bye-laws, although approaches have been made to the Home office in the past.

However, I would be happy to write to your neighbours requesting that they looked for alternative means of disposal other than burning.

Please supply me with your neighbours address if you wish to take this matter further.

If you require any further information or advice regarding this matter please contact me on extension 2393.

We were sitting eating dinner outside tonight when someone lit a bonfire at around 6.30pm. I decided I'd had enough and ran round the corner and confronted the person about their behaviour.

The key point, which I hope I got across, was not so much the lighting of a bonfire at all but the point that it was being lit early on a loverly pre-summer evening.

It turned out to be a nice old lady. She claimed :- it was the first bonfire she'd lit in 40 years - that she'd checked her neighbours were out but didn't think it would affect others- that it couldn't be affecting us much and it had only been alight for 20 mins- it is not possible to proceed when it's cloudy because it will be raining

I do not relish berating OAPs - or anyone - and our conversation was relatively civilised. However, clearly the arguments given were pretty pathetic. The first is irrelevant to the question of lighting a bonfire on a sunny evening. The second is untrue since the guy was out front polishing his car. The 3rd is feeble and irrelevant; besides which I'll be the judge of how much smoke is desirable in my garden. The last remark is just ludicrous.

As ever I am not against bonfires per se - just the time of day, time of year and frequency of their lighting.

My conclusion about this evening is 2-fold :1 - giving this person the benefit of the doubt there are clearly people who do not realise the consequences of their action (or the prevailing wind direction)2 - this is an area where NMORA could do something useful

With regard to 2. I propose that we look at any number of courses of action that might give a result.

The local council's advice leaflet on domestic bonfires has been reproduced on this site if anyone is interested in knowing more. click hereIt gives all sorts of advice but states clearly that people burning garden waste could be breaking the law. "Under the Environmental Protection Act it is an offence to produce smoke which causes a nuisance and the District Council could serve a Notice requiring you to stop having bonfires – if you continue to cause a smoke nuisance you could be fined up to £2,000. Anyone who allows smoke from a bonfire to drift across a road could also face a fine of up to £2,000 under the Highways Act."

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justin

Correct me if I'm wrong but youare intitled to have a bonfire providing its after 5.30pm the reason being that most peoples washing will or should have been in by then. You are not talking about people burning tyres or any other compounds that are illegal to burn under the house hold waste act of 1976.

Dear J.you can have a bonfire whenever you like.It can however be a statuatory nuisance at any time if it causes harm etc to anyone who is affected.Just imagine must get home by 5-30 to get washing in, 5-31 o dear smuts Be nice if we could all burn the lot on one day per month and all get it over and done with, people who don't like it can perhaps go out?regards,jetA reformed pyromaniac, my neighbours only had to complain once, I realised what a pest I was and stopped

Nice warm evening, all the windows open to keep the house cool The local pyromaniac gets out the matches so close all the windows because the house now stinks of smoke Take the dog out and in a 3/4 hour walk round Cuffley I do not escape the bonfire smell

Well amazing it's happened again. This post is "very" like my April 24 post because the circumstances are almost exactly identical.............

We were sitting outside this afternoon reading the paper, watching the washing dry, enjoying the sun and colouring the paper (3yr old....) when someone lit a bonfire at around 5.30pm. Adopting my new policy of addressing the issue asap I ran round the corner and found it was a house 2 doors up from the April 24 incident. Unable to attract attention via the doorbell I called over the fence from the school playing field.

As usual the key point was not so much the lighting of a bonfire at all but the point that it was being lit early on a lovely pre-summer evening.

It turned out to be a another nice old lady. This time the claims were : - she had misjudged the wind to which I countered that it hardly mattered who was receiving the outfall - just that somebody was- that she couldn't get her rubbish out to the front of the house and into the council sacks to which I countered that she had managed to get it to the end of the garden OK... to which she countered that her side-way is too narrow for this green refuse (amazing how different her house is from everybody else's then)- that she had apologised and what else could she do to which I'm afraid I countered with "well you could put it out"

We all had to go inside for a while and take down all the washing to avoid it stinking. Our neighbours were less fortunate since they were out and their washing therefore, presumably, now does stink.

As before, I do not relish berating OAPs - or anyone - and our conversation was relatively civilised.

However, as before the arguments were clearly pretty pathetic.

As ever I am not against bonfires per se - just the time of day, time of year and frequency of their lighting.

What is it that goes through the tiny minds of these people that makes them think lighting obviously damp material on a summer evening can in any way be reasonable behaviour?

We get few enough sunny days in this country to have them ruined by this. It really is deeply anti-social behaviour particularly when a recycling alternative is offered by the Council.

My conclusion about this evening is still 2-fold : 1 - continuing to give these people the benefit of the doubt [which is pushing it because the excuses are all just too quick for me to believe there is no guilt] there are clearly people who do not realise the consequences of their action (or the prevailing wind direction) 2 - this is an area where NMORA could do something useful

With regard to 2. I propose that we look at any number of courses of action that might give a result.

ac

I live in a village of 1500 people, Balcombe, West Sussex. I moved from London to a healthier environment.In winter, the air smells of chimney smoke. As soon as the weather improves, we are plagued by bonfires.I sent some guidelines for bonfires to the parish council for publication in their monthly newsletter. They printed their own, weak guidelines, explaining that we depend on people being neighbourly!I believe that most people don't care that much. That's the problem.A significant minority (especially people who are at home all day) are affected. This should be enough reason for strong guidelines to be issued by the parish council and other measure to raise awareness.Until the law is changed (as in Holland), we have to pressure our parish councils.

Just had an old school friend and his wife and girl stay over from Canada.They were astounded that we have bonfires in our residential areas. Apparently any fire whatsoever out there and the fire department turn up and put it out.They were astounded that people here could be so inconsiderate.Also they were appalled at the behaviour of children over here both in rudeness, noise and basic educational standard, again behaving badly is just not acceptable in Canada.I would judge their 4 year old daughter ( in state pre school) To be at a 3 R level of a 12 year old over here.Childminders cost about £200/ Month!Gas is quarter the price!Something is really wrong over here.Just for info,regards,jet

After a particularly smoky Sunday evening, when we had to shut all the windows and put up with uncomfotable levels of heat on one of the hottest days of the year because of a number of bonfires in the area, the following information might be of use to those who have built up too much garden waste. Potters Bar tip opening hours and what they recycle at Potters Bar tip. By the way Argos are doing 370 litre garden waste bags for £9.99 for two. They are showerproof, have handles and fit neatly in a car boot. If you can't get to the tip, the council does provide a garden waste collection service. Special bags (the council will only collect garden waste in its own bags) can be bought from Brookmans Park Post Office. If people feel they have to have bonfires it might be best to wait until the weather is cooler and people are less likely to have their windows open? Otherwise it makes it very unpleasant for neighbours; and don't forget asthmatic children - it can be a real problem for some.Collection dates

Sept 9 - paper and green waste

Sept 23 - paper only

Oct 7 - paper and green waste

Oct 21 - paper only

Nov 4 - paper and green waste

Nov 18 - paper only

Dec 2 - paper and green waste

Dec 16 - paper only

Jan 13 - paper and green waste

Jan 27 - paper only

Feb 10 - paper and green waste

Feb 24 - paper only

Mar 10 - paper and green waste

Mar 24 - paper only

Apr 14 - paper and green waste

Apr 28 - paper only

May 12 - paper and green waste

May 31 - paper only

« Last Edit: August 19, 2002, 09:00:31 pm by admin »

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Buenos dias muchachos,Just got back from la manche, you peeple call it zee English Channel, is mucho easy now with our boats registered here, mucho better than all zee way to Cadiz.After the wind blew wrong for our Armada we decided to let you come to us is eazieer that way. Enough noticed that el administror which I take to be something like our alcalde had a little trouble over the weekend with smoke. We used to have this trouble but confined it too our town squares when dealing with gringos. This is way in the past now and we are all best of amigos now, especially as you build all our nice new roads for us. Well best way is to lobby your councillors, we have same problems, only see them when voting and then caramba puff they vanish like the smoke in the night. All this is very tiresome no one needs it on the patio, it must stop I think. Seems that someone needs to kick up a stink about it, just a leetle Iberian joke. Hola time to feed Tornado and turn een it is all so stressfull.

Dear all,quite a few people have spoken to me lately about the problems they have with bonfires.Yesterday some bright spark left a fire smouldering near me and then went out, what with the sun making it catch and the rain making it smoke it ruined the day from 4pm onwards for over 200 people with the light wind constantly shifting everyone but the culprit was affected. What an anti social person regards,jetWhat about some EU anti smoke directives!

A friend of mine lives on a small estate in St.Albans and they have a committee who decides as and when the residents can do things like bonfires and putting up ariels and such like. They have to have one large bonfire on a specified date and are only allowed one huge ariel to cover the whole estate and in all the years I have been visiting I have never had trouble parking, despite the usual restrictions, because the nieghbours are so considerate.I went to a Line Dance at the primary school to celebrate the Jubilee at 7.30 pm and the people who live oposite the school entrance decided that was a good time to light a bonfire! It was the Saturday evening of the Jubilee weekend!

This issue is almost entirely about consideration of others, and could quite easily be resolved with only a tiny amount of thought

as an example, I used to live next to a gent who was rebuilding a large garden, and he would pile all of that days waste into a bonfire during the day, and then last thing at night (before he went to bed) he would light it, thereby avoiding all (or at least most) of the kind of problems that have been mentioned in this thread

So it would appear that education and consideration are the key things

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